


Irreplaceable

by TrioMaxwell



Category: Free!
Genre: AU, Gen, Haruka is only an observer here, Japan in 700 AD, Medieval AU, Not my usual quality I'm sorry, Our characters are only 12 years old, Really weird story, Shinto gods - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-07-15
Packaged: 2018-01-21 01:04:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1531850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrioMaxwell/pseuds/TrioMaxwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in medieval Japan, around 710 - 790 AD.</p><p>I had a feeling in Episode 7 of Free!, when Rin was talking about his father with Nitori, that he would replace his father's death with his own life, if he could.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Boy and His Father

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is for the following prompt: 
> 
> "Flash fiction (from dailywritingprompt on tumblr)  
> Today, I don’t have a full prompt due to horrible writers block and constant power outages. So, write at least 300 words on the first idea you think of. Maybe you have an idea that has been gnawing away at your brain, or maybe something you’ve been meaning to (re)write.  
> Take it easy and just get your thoughts down on paper. Have fun and I’ll have prompts again for this week!"
> 
> I couldn't stop at 300 words... =\ And the story kept developing.

 Twelve-year old Haruka flew down the path leading to the sea, straw sandals kicking up the wet gravel strewn along the path, his cloth bag bouncing up and down on his back.

 

 _Ah_. _I should’ve left the bag at home, but it’s too late now_.

 

He skidded a few times on the looser parts of the path, slick from the past two days of heavy rain, but kept his feet through some feat of balance and hurtled on. Breathing was starting to hurt and the gravel grinding against the soles of his feet in his loose sandals hurt too, but he couldn't stop, didn’t want to. His house had been echoingly empty when he returned from his errands; his parents, Matsuoka-obasan and Gou-chan were gone. There was only a quickly penned note on the dining table (with smudged black ink and barely legible words on thin rice paper) that had given him any clue at all as to where everyone had gone.

 

_Matsuoka is on the beach._

 

Haru turned and ran out of the house immediately upon reading those words.

 

_Rin! Please be all right!_

 

\----------------

 

 _Three days_. That was how long Rin had been missing.

 

After three days of worrying  _everyone_ ; Matsuoka-obasan, his sister Gou-chan, Haruka’s own parents, the entire village and Haruka himself, Rin had  _finally_  been found. He really hoped that Rin was properly sorry for all the trouble he’d caused. Yes, Rin might have had reason to be angry and emotional, but to stay missing for three whole days and counting was too much. He really should have made an effort to return in spite of the storms. Matsuoka-obasan and Gou-chan hadn’t stopped crying the entire time.

 

If anything had happened to Rin, right on the heels of what had happened to Matsuoka-ojisan, Matsuoka-obasan would never recover from it. Especially not after the way Rin had left them…

 

\--------------

 

_Rin was crouching in front of the closed shōji doors in the hall, listening intently to the lowered voices of the adults from the other side of the thin paper. Haru, pausing in the hallway as well, heard his parents talking about the storm that had struck the fishing boats more than a week ago. He felt bad for Rin as he heard about the recent developments; the broken-up remains of Matsuoka-ojisan’s ship had been discovered, washed up on a neighbouring beach two days before._

_(Haru had also heard people talking freely in the village, when they thought there was no one around to listen. Everyone had agreed that if the men lost out at sea hadn’t come back by now, they weren’t coming back ever. Everyone felt bad for all the families of the fishermen who had held on to hope, but by now, after ten days had passed with no signs of the survivors, it seemed fair to say that hope was dwindling to nothing fast.)_

_Well, all but Rin’s. He still looked out to sea from the cliff-tops during the day, hoping to see his father walking up the sandy beach. He still chattered at Gou during the evenings about the things they’d do together when Matsuoka-ojisan finally returned._

 

_“Father will take us out for candy and crackers, and we can go back to our own house to live. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Gou?” Only Haru saw how Rin gripped his elbows through the light summer jinbei, the sleeves bunching up beneath his fingers, the knuckles turning white. However, Rin’s face still beamed cheerfully at Gou as he hunkered down to her height. “Hey, Gou, let’s go to Ryujin temple now to pray for Father’s safe return.”_

_Haru had thought that those hopeful words were solely for Gou’s benefit, to stop her from crying; had thought that a bright boy like Rin himself would put two and two together and prepare himself mentally for the worst._

 

It appeared that he was wrong.

 

He moved closer to Rin in the hall, intending to tug him away from the doors,  _because eavesdropping on the adults was wrong_. He heard Matsuoka-obasan start to cry quietly, waveringly. She sobbed as she mourned, struggling to put her acceptance of her husband’s fate into words. He heard Rin’s breath catch into quiet sobs as well, watched in alarm as he doubled over, crossing his arms over his chest, hugging his shoulders after he heard his mother say the words,  _“I really,… don’t think that my dear,… is coming back after all...”_

 

Haru reached out a hand to touch Rin’s shoulder, wanting to give him some comfort in this time of need, but Rin suddenly  _exploded_  into action. He had flung open the shōji doors and screamed his outrage at all the shocked adults present.

 

“ _How could you say such things? How could you…! FATHER WILL…”_  He stood gasping for a moment, swiping angrily at the tears that streamed down his face with the back of his hand. “ _Father WILL come back_!” He spat the words out. He glared at them all defiantly, then spun around, pushing past Haru, bolting from the house into the night.

 

Haru had thought that Rin would come back home after working through his anger that night, but he was wrong.

 

Rin’s cotton top had been found discarded on the sandy beach early the next day.

 

The few boats that had survived the storm earlier would have gone out to sea to search for the missing boy, but then, a great storm blew in. A storm so great that it made the previous storm look like a minor squall in comparison, the waves from the sea so tempestuous that they almost reached the tops of the cliffs where the village was. Lightning and thunder shook the earth. It was as if the Gods were fighting.

 

Haru had thought that Rin would return, running through the rain at any moment now to put everyone's mind at ease but...

 

There had been no sign of the boy anywhere.

 

Till now.

 

\-------------

 

Haru landed crookedly on one foot in a jarring mis-step and just barely caught himself from tumbling head over heels down the muddy slope. Disregarding his near-miss, he maintained his current speed and careened on.  _He was almost there_! He passed by some on-lookers at the side of the path, murmuring and pointing down towards the crowd standing in a loose circle, a few feet from the water's edge. He heard the thin, joyful cries of a little girl being carried to him on the wind.  _That would be Gou-chan_ , he thought.  _She sounded… happy? So Rin must be alright_! The thought carried him as he slogged through the sand.

 

Haru pushed his way past the ring of adults to reach the centre of the murmuring circle and stopped short at the sight.

 

This was not what he had expected to see.

 

The person sitting up on the sand, alive and well, hugging and being hugged on both sides by the two crying Matsuoka ladies, wasn’t Rin.

 

It was Rin’s father.

 

\------

 

Far out at sea, the boy who used to be Matsuoka Rin looked wistfully at the scene on the beach, gripping onto some barely submerged rocks with his clawed hands to prevent himself from swimming over to join them.

 

He did not, could not go back to his human life, mainly because he was no longer human. He was an  _O Mikoto,_  part dragon lord now, pledged into the service of the  _Sokotsu Watatsumi, the Deity of the Ocean Floor_. This was the bargain he had struck with Ryūjin in his prayers; his life for his father’s.

 

He glanced at his new liege lord in his human form beside him, a young teen with sunset hair and golden eyes.  _You would never guess that his true form was that of a dragon_ , he thought.  _But when he transformed, he could cover the entire sky._

 

He threw a last glance towards the shore, bidding farewell to his former life. “Sokotsu-sama. May we go now?”

 

The dragon lord nodded, then hesitated, scratching the back of his head. He said in an aside. “I’m sure they’ll be alright now. You can come back and check on them during every full moon if you want.”

 

Rin blinked. This generous permission was more than he had asked for. He nodded simply. “Thank you.”

 

They both transformed into dragons and slipped away beneath the water’s surface. 

 

 

**END Chapter 1**

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the feeling in Episode 7 of Free!, when Rin was talking about his father to Nitori, that he would replace his father's death with his own life, if he could.
> 
> Why Japan in 700+ AD, well, that's the Nara era, when most of the villagers in Japan followed a religion based on the worship of natural and ancestral spirits called kami.
> 
> Japanese terms:
> 
> Obasan: Aunt  
> Ojisan: Uncle  
> Jinbei: kind of traditional Japanese clothing during the summer  
> Shōji: A door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a lattice of wood or bamboo
> 
> Wikipedia is my source for Shinto mythology terms.
> 
> Shinto mythology is complicated cos of the names and confusing translation, like what's going on? I’ve tried my best to simplify it. Here goes.
> 
> Ryūjin: dragon god, or Owatatsumi, the Big Watatsumi, the deity of the sea in Japanese mythology. This Japanese dragon symbolized the power of the ocean. You prayed to him for agriculture, rain, and the success of fishermen.
> 
> Watatsumi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watatsumi
> 
> In the beginning, there were two gods of creation, Izanagi and Izanami. Izanami died in childbirth. Izanagi tried to resurrect her by going through the Underworld but failed. Covered in the filth of hell, he began to wash himself in the ocean and created 26 deities from this dirt in all. (whut?)
> 
> Of these 26 deities, three are dragon gods of the ocean (Watatsumis). The names they have varies according to the texts/translations, but these three report to Ryujin, the Big Watatsumi. Of these three Watatsumis, one rules the top level (uwa) of the ocean, one rules the middle (naka) and one rules the bottom level (soko) of the ocean.
> 
> These Watatsumis are paired with three O Mikoto 男命 "male lords".
> 
> (*Wiggles eyebrows* The internet doesn’t have much to explain the origin of these three O Mikoto. I think that they’re deities also created from Izanagi's bath, but it was not specified. More than half of the 26 deities have very similar names to each other and there seemed to be references to humans mixed up at this point so I just winged this part.)


	2. A Boy and His Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A life for a life. 
> 
> Rin tries to bargain with the Dragon God.

The path was flanked by tall trees that blocked whatever light the full moon might have cast, but Rin's night accustomed eyes managed to pick out the faint curved archway of the torii gate that marked the entrance to Ryujin Temple ahead. Normally, Rin would never have dared to venture there alone in the dark, but now, he crept determinedly up the stairs, only slowing down after he had slipped on the first few uneven stone steps and fallen heavily to his knees, barking his shins painfully on the edges of rough stone.

 

He didn't know what he would've done at the shrine, only had some vague idea of throwing himself in front of the God's altar and ringing on the bell repeatedly as though it was the door to the God's own house till Ryujin-sama came out, then bargaining for whatever it took for Ryujin to return his father to them. It was a stupid, futile idea, but it was all he had.

 

He reached the top of the stairs and stood there looking around, panting, heart pounding madly. The temple grounds were dark and deserted. No lanterns burned in the doorway, or candles at the windows. He paused to wash his hands and mouth with cold water bubbling from the spring at the entrance, then crept across the courtyard, bare feet scuffling against the gravel. He stood before the screen doors to the shrine that housed the dragon god. He couldn't see it in the dark, but knew what it looked like, from his recent frequent visits to the shrine. He could imagine the eyes of the dragon deity staring at him through the paper and bowed his head in shame. He felt disheveled and dirty, and totally insignificant and inadequate with his tear-stained face and bloody knees. He suddenly realised how ill-equipped he was to make demands of the Gods. He had brought no offerings of incense, or of rice and salt and water. He had not undergone any of the purification rituals and the desperate feelings in his heart were nowhere near the state of _magokoro_ that one should have when entering the temple.

 

_Why should the Gods listen to him?_

 

He felt new tears trickle down his face, felt as helpless as his mother must have, and began to despair.

 

 _Give up,_ a small traitorous voice whispered gleefully in his head. _Give up and go home._

 

He found himself standing at the exit, door pushed open. He started to move, then hesitated at the threshold. He could step through it and go home. He could apologise to his mother and mourn the missing man together. He could learn to stop calling for Father in his heart.

 

Why did he feel that if he stopped praying now, Father would truly *never* be able to return? And this time, *he* would be the one at fault. He shook his head, his hair whipping back and forth. _No, no, no!_ He denied the thought angrily. I _would do *anything*, to let Father come back home!_

 

 _Do you really mean that?_ The small voice in his head whispered, all mirth gone. _Do you really, really, mean that?_

 

_Yes._

Rin looked out the door. If he stood at the top of the temple stairs, from the vantage point on the hill, he would be able to see his village, all lit up at night. He thought of his real home, as dead and dark and lonely as the temple, waiting for his Father to come home. He shuddered at the thought of never hearing Father's comforting laughter in the house ever again. Memories of his Father flooded his mind. Father teaching Gou and him how to swim fearlessly in the sea; Father letting him ride on his tall shoulders above the crowds during the festivals to see the sights and fireworks, with candy melting sweet in his mouth; strong arms tossing him into the air and catching him everytime, the laughter of the other fishermen that his father worked with echoing in his ears.

 

His father had taught him how to look after his mother and sister when he wasn't around, and he had tried, but it wasn't the same. He couldn't make the same funny faces to make Gou laugh or toss her into the air and catch her. He couldn't hug his mother from behind and make her smile. His father was irreplaceable.

 

He turned around and went before the shrine again. He held out his arms and laid his soul, bare, offering up his thoughts.  He rattled the bells on by their thick hempen rope, bowed twice, clapped twice, put together his hands and prayed.

 

From within him, as he gave up home, friends and family, came a purity of thought.

 

_Ryujin-sama, please, grant me this. Bring back my father. Ryujin-sama. I give up my time._

_All of it, in exchange for my father._

 

He refused to let himself think that it wasn’t good enough because it would have to be.

 

He  imagined he could see the deity's silver eyes gleaming in his mind.

 

"What are you doing here?"

 

Rin looked up. A middle-aged monk stood before the screen, holding a lantern that cast a golden circle of light. He raised it now, to get a better look at Rin and Rin had to avert his eyes from the sudden brightness.

 

"You." He sighed. “You shouldn’t be here. Go home.”

 

“I can’t,” Rin replied, simply. He bowed to the monk in apology, then lowered his head and continued his interrupted prayer.  

 

_Please, Ryujin-sama, please._

 

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder; he had not heard the monk climb down the stairs or cross the gravel. He looked up in the monk’s eyes, silver eyes, and heard in his mind.

  
_'Enough, brat. Cease your praying. I have heard your prayer.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shinto gods are called kami. Kami are thought to have influence on human affairs, and for this reason many Japanese make regular pilgrimage to community shrines in order to offer prayers to local kami. The act of prayer involves approaching the shrine structure, passing through the gate-like torii, cleansing the hands and mouth with water and possibly ascending stairs to the main entrance of the shrine. Usually without entering the shrine the worshipper will throw some coins into a stone or wooden collection box and then rattle the suzu bell which is at the top of a long hemp rope. The worshiper grabs hold of the rope and shakes it back and forth causing the copper bell at the top to rattle. This is thought to get the attention of the shrine god. The worshipper then bows twice, claps his or her hands twice and then bows again. In addition, the worshipper may clasp their hands together in silent prayer.
> 
> magokoro: A basic attitude toward life, Shintō emphasizes makoto no kokoro (“heart of truth”), or magokoro (“true heart”), which is usually translated as “sincerity, pure heart, uprightness.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had the feeling in Episode 7 of Free!, when Rin was talking about his father to Nitori, that he would replace his father's death with his own life, if he could. 
> 
> Why Japan in 700+ AD, well, that's the Nara era, when most of the villagers in Japan followed a religion based on the worship of natural and ancestral spirits called kami. 
> 
> Japanese terms: 
> 
> Obasan: Aunt  
> Ojisan: Uncle  
> Jinbei: kind of traditional Japanese clothing during the summer  
> Shōji: A door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a lattice of wood or bamboo
> 
> Wikipedia is my source for Shinto mythology terms.
> 
> Shinto mythology is complicated cos of the names and confusing translation, like what's going on? I’ve tried my best to simplify it. Here goes.
> 
> Ryūjin: dragon god, or Owatatsumi, the Big Watatsumi, the deity of the sea in Japanese mythology. This Japanese dragon symbolized the power of the ocean. You prayed to him for agriculture, rain, and the success of fishermen.
> 
> Watatsumi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watatsumi 
> 
> In the beginning, there were two gods of creation, Izanagi and Izanami. Izanami died in childbirth. Izanagi tried to resurrect her by going through the Underworld but failed. Covered in the filth of hell, he began to wash himself in the ocean and created 26 deities from this dirt in all. (whut?)
> 
> Of these 26 deities, three are dragon gods of the ocean (Watatsumis). The names they have varies according to the texts/translations, but these three report to Ryujin, the Big Watatsumi. Of these three Watatsumis, one rules the top level (uwa) of the ocean, one rules the middle (naka) and one rules the bottom level (soko) of the ocean.
> 
> These Watatsumis are paired with three O Mikoto 男命 "male lords".
> 
> (*Wiggles eyebrows* The internet doesn’t have much to explain the origin of these three O Mikoto. I think that they’re deities also created from Izanagi's bath, but it was not specified. More than half of the 26 deities have very similar names to each other and there seemed to be references to humans mixed up at this point so I just winged this part.)
> 
> EXTRA:  
> In another chapter which may or may not be written, it'll be all about how Sokotsu's original O Mikoto to be the one that was stopping Rin's father from going home despite Rin's prayers (the Gods do try to answer...). Not for any particular reason, more like how the djinn in Magi sometimes collect people to torture and play with in their dungeons.  
> That night, Rin ran to Ryujin shrine and found Ryujin and Sokotsu there. Ryujin explained the situation to Sokotsu and tells him he's supposed to fix things up. The storm that raged for two days and two nights when Rin was missing from the village was the effects of defeating that errant O Mikoto… and Rin's payment for the liberation and the miracle of his father's return was to be the replacement for that deity.


End file.
